I walk through the door at 9:00 pm on that Sunday night and hang the house keys where they belong. I heard a little mumble coming from the living room so I slowly walk towards it and see my dad sitting there with Lottie. I smile at him as I walk over to hug him.

"How was it?" I asked him as he hugged me back.

"It's nice to be home. It was tiring. I missed you girls. And Jackie, I thought no boys!" My dad scolded me. I looked at him confused at his statement. Did he see Blake drop me off?

"What are you talking about dad...? I'm not with any boy.." I told him as I sat across the couch from him.

"I know you're not but what about Lottie here? And this Caden boy?" He folded his arms over his chest as I chuckled at his reaction, letting out a sigh.

As if on cue, Caden walks into the room and sits on the couch beside me, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants.

"Are you ok?" I ask him, his hands catching my eyes. He nodded at my question, giving me a weak smile. The sweat was visible and I felt sorry for him, but it made me want to laugh.

"Sir, I just want to say that I will treat Lottie with complete respect, I will never make her cry, I will take care of her and make sure she's always happy" He tried to convince my dad but my dad gave him the biggest stink eye; he looked as though he would pounce on him at any given moment and murder him for even looking at Lottie.

I felt sorry for Caden at this point. I know that Lottie is not going to say yes to that date if dad disapproves of him. Blake's words go through my head once more "He's liked her ever since the start of high school." I might as well help him, dad was never going to approve. Caden looks like a guy who would play with girl's feelings but he really likes Lottie and I know for a fact that he won't do that.

"Come on Dad. Give him a break" I get up from the couch and sit on the armrest of the couch, gently massaging his shoulders to calm him down. "He's a nice guy. He won't hurt her. And trust me if he does, I'll kill him myself. Unless you want to... then I'll give you the gun or the knife or whatever you want to kill him with" I attempted at a joke which made Caden gulp down hard. I glance at Lottie to see her looking at Caden like she could kiss him, but she looked happy and I guess that's all that mattered.

My dad got up from the couch and made his way towards Caden and he got up quickly as my dad approached him. My dad got up close and personal. "If you ever, and I mean EVER make her cry or hurt her in any possible way, I will find you and I will kill you. You will not play with my daughter's feelings and you will not be doing anything inappropriate with her. Do you understand me?" Dad poked his chest with force with every emphasis.

Caden nods vigorously as he stutters "y-y-yes sir", making me and Lottie giggle.

"Keep her happy. But this does not mean that I like you" My dad tells him as he makes his way out of the room "Good night girls"

"Good night," We said in unison and with that dad left to go to sleep.

"So will you go out with me now?" Caden asks in the gentlest way possible, lightly holding Lottie's hand as he stared deeply into her eyes. Lottie looks up at him and for a moment neither of them said anything and I was so tempted to ruin the moment but I knew that Lottie would kill me so I got out of that room as quietly as I could and made my way to my room and jumped on my bed, laying on my back staring at the ceiling and hugging my pillow tight to my chest. If someone was to see me right now, they might think I was a sociopath with that big smile on my face.

"I'm guessing you had a good day with your boys" Lottie lays down beside me, doing the same as me. I nod as I let out a little laugh, remembering the day we spent together. "Spill every single tiny detail"

====================

"Guys, can I know where we are going?" I ask Chris and Blake but again, no response. Just little giggles from Chris, unable to hold in his excitement.

We were currently in Blake's car driving to god knows where. I had been asking them where we were going since the park, but neither of them would tell me anything. Blake just drove silently giving me smiles now and then, but he was mostly lost in thought, while Chris would just giggle at my question.

Blake pulled into parking earning a squeal from Chris. "We're here! We're here! We're here!" He struggled to get out of his seat. Blake quickly runs over to the back to help Chris out of his seat as I got out of the car, still confused.

"Let's go, Mommy!" Chris pulls on my hand as soon as he got out of the car. Blake comes on my other side and also grabs my hand.

"Come on. You're going to love this." He gives me the sweetest smile and my heartbeat fastens up. I was not sure if it was because of Blake or what was in store for me ahead.

We walk into what looked like a street bazaar. They were selling things like jewelry, decoration pieces, key chains, food, clothes, tons of things. How did I not know this place existed?

"I know you want to explore these things, but what do you say we come back some other day early in the morning and explore all of this. I'm going, to be honest, there's a lot of shops and trust me, you want to look at all of them." Blake gave me another smile, looking right in my eyes and intertwined his fingers into mine, making my heart skip a beat. I automatically looked down at our hands and quickly let go and picked Chris up as Alexa raced through my head.

As we continued to walk Blake stopped in front of me and turned around to face me. "I hope you love nature" He held my hand again and led me through what seemed like a forest; a series of branches and twigs coming at me, and saying things like "Watch your head" and "Be careful, don't trip, there's a fallen branch there"

When we finally got out of that forest, he let go of my hand and turned to face me and smiled.

"Here we are." And with that, he got out of the way I couldn't breathe. My breath was caught as I stared at the most beautiful sight in front of me.

The city of Rootsville was on one side and the forest on the other and it was like someone had cut the most beautiful line in between with water. I was looking at two opposite worlds. One where all I saw was green, brown and the most beautiful shades of natural colours which were in trees and the whole forest. It was quiet and so serene. It was so peaceful and it was nice to see things being taken slowly; while on the other side, the city seemed so busy but still beautiful in its own form. It was so picturesque and so appealing to the eye. Overall, you could not look away from the beauty that stood before you. I was in complete awe.

"Mommy do you like it?" Chris asked the same moment Blake asked "Pretty huh?"

"It's beautiful!" I answered both of them with the same statement. Blake let out a chuckle and looked at me, and I couldn't understand his intentions. He looked at me like he wanted to kiss me but why? He's with Alexa... Maybe I'm just misinterpreting the situation. Maybe it's me who wants to kiss him, I know that's bad. Maybe it's the moment of it all. The beautiful view, and just us, standing there like a family.

He looked away and stared at the view in front of him. "I'm going to go grab us some food. You guys stay here, we'll eat here." With that, he left.

"Today is so much fun! I wish every day was today!" Chris squeals and I laugh at his little happy dance.

I take a seat on the grass, Chris doing the same. "It's really pretty, isn't it?" I ask him.

"so pretty!" Chris sighed.

"Mummy! Are we there yet?" A voice of a little girl came from behind us. I turned around to see a man, between his 20s to 30s, walkout from the way we came. Following him was a lady, same age as the guy, with a little girl in her arms who looked approximately the same age as Chris.

"We're here darling!" The man said to his daughter. The lady put the little girl down and she ran up to where Chris and I were sitting.

"It's so pretty!" She stared at the view in awe.

"We're so sorry to bother you guys!" The lady said taking notice of Chris and me.

"Oh no, that's ok. It's a beautiful view. I don't blame you guys for coming here. It's so nice and peaceful." I replied.

"It truly is beautiful. I have never seen anything like this before." The guy told me "I'm Matt by the way" He took his hand out for me to shake.

"Jackie" I shake his hand. The lady introduced herself as Lorene, also shaking my hand.

At that moment Blake walks through holding bags in his hand. "And that's Blake." Blake looks confused as he raises his eyebrow at me. Matt and Lorene introduced themselves to Blake, shaking their hands.

"And I'm Chris! They're my mommy and daddy!" Chris gave them a really big smile and took his hand out for them to shake. They laughed at his cuteness and shook his hand.

"Chris, you should meet our daughter! This is Isabella." They introduced their daughter to Chris and they both gave each other the biggest smile. It was so cute.

"Mummy, can I play with Chris?" Isabella asked her mom. When her mom gave permission, Chris asked us and when we agreed, the two kids went off playing tag.

"So how long have you guys been married? I don't mean to be rude or anything but you guys seem really young." Lorene asked us. Blake and I started shaking her heads and hands.

"Oh no, we're not married-" We answered together.

"Oh, so you guys just had Chris?" Matt gave Blake a sly smirk.

"No- It's kind of complicated," I tell them with a small smile.

"He lost his parents and he kind of thinks we're his parents because there's an unbelievable resemblance between his real parents and us. But you know, just hoping he finds his real family soon." Blake also gives them a small smile.

"Oh, that's something. How is it on you guys?" Matt asked, making Blake and I look at each other and smile, realizing the answer to that question ourselves.

"I mean we're just teenagers trying to finish high school and you know trying to find a future but he just makes me feel complete, you know? So yeah, it can be hard at times but he's worth it" Blake smiled even brighter at me with my response.

"You guys are so cute" Lorene gushed over us as Matt's phone rang and he stepped aside to talk.

He came back and informed Lorene that they had to go because something came up, and then called Isabella, who came running with Chris behind her.

"Daddy I want to play with Chris again" Isabella gave her dad the puppy dog eyes and the father agreed.

"Is that ok with you guys?" Matt asked us.

"Of course" Blake and I responded, which followed by Blake and Matt exchanging numbers.

"It was nice meeting you." We all shook each other's hand while Isabella hugged Chris, leaving a goofy smile on his face, and then they left.

We all sat down on the grass, staring at the view in front of us as Blake handed us the food with the sun slowly starting to set.

"She was really pretty. And she had a really pretty name. Isabella!" Chris gushed, his cheeks fully red.

"Aww, my baby's got a crush!" I hug him from the side and give him a really big kiss on the cheek as he struggles to push me off.

"Mommy I'm a big boy now! Please don't kiss me in front of other people" Chris said proudly with a hint of embarrassment making Blake and I crack up.

"One girl comes in your life and you're going to forget about me huh? And honey, there's no one here but us" I ruffle his hair.

"Ok listen, buddy. I'm going to tell you how to get a girl ok? Pay close attention and don't listen to anything your mom says ok?" Blake slings his left arm around Chris and starts telling him all the 'secrets' on how to get a girl with Chris listening very carefully. I tried to add some things like "Treat her with respect" but the boys looked at me and Chris would just say "Mommy please. Daddy's teaching me something important" which would make both Blake and I laugh. Blake would then add on "Your mom's right".

=================

"It was just so nice Lottie. We were just sitting there in front of the sunset and eating and talking. It was beautiful" I tell her as I remember the moment.

"Look at you, with your little cliche story" Lottie punches me lightly on my shoulder giving me a laugh.

"Not anymore cliche than yours," I tell her with the same tone but shoving a pillow in her face.